The Note
by Chrys-DASL
Summary: Francine has sent off a love letter to the guy of her dreams, hoping to win him over. But she doesn't sign it, and problems arise as the group tries to figure out who likes whom. Will anyone end up together in the end? Cutesie one-shot I wrote a while back. Enjoy.


**The Note**

Sue Ellen looked up with a devious grin. A few tables over, Arthur was opening a love letter while Buster and Alex looked on. Suddenly, Sue Ellen felt someone elbow her, and the devious grin dissolved as she sank in her seat.

"Come on, Sue Ellen. I asked you to help because I thought you'd be good at this. I didn't think you'd get me busted," Francine glared, watching impatiently as Arthur read through the note and began to look around. "Oh, this is so nervewracking! Why did I have to have a crush on him?"

"It's only normal," Sue Ellen pleaded. Francine shook her head before laying across the cafeteria table.

"What's wrong with her?" Muffy asked with a grimmace.

"She's fine, just tired," Sue Ellen lied. They were keeping Francine's crush from her because she was a blabbermouth with no respect for anyone else's feelings.

"Well if you actually are sick, stay away from me. In fact, oh look! Hi, Maria!" Muffy called. Francine wanted to hide under the table as Arthur's group looked up at the noise.

"Cheer up, Francine. Do you want me to go talk to them?" Sue Ellen asked.

"NO!" Francine hissed. "I...I couldn't sign the note."

"You WHAT?!" Sue Ellen exclaimed. "Why didn't you sign the note? He might think it's from someone else."

"So what if he does? This is too much for me, way too much. In fact, I'm going to sit with Maria too," Francine said. She gathered her things and rushed to Maria's table.

A moment later, Buster approached Sue Ellen. He was blushing slightly and Sue Ellen tried to hide her nervousness.

"Hey, Sue Ellen. Arthur just got a note from someone and he thinks its from you. Is it?" he asked. Sue Ellen shook her head. "Well someone had to write it. I'm going to ask Fern to help me figure it out. Care to come with?"

Considering Sue Ellen was now sitting alone, she thought this would be the best option. She followed Buster to a shadowy table at the back of the room. There Fern sat with a notebook, her trusty pen in one hand and an apple in the other.

"What do you want?" Fern demanded.

"Arthur got a note and we wanted your help to know who sent it," Buster explained.

Fern sighed heavily, "This is the only time I can actually sit down and write while I'm at school. Can't it wait?"

"I got a new issue of that writer's magazine waiting at home," Buster offered. Fern sighed heavily and extended her hand. "That always wins," Buster smirked and passed her the note.

"I've seen this handwriting before," Fern said, looking the note over. She slapped it into Buster's hand, "Half the girls in this school write like that with those stupid capital r's and curly letters. Get me something else, the story behind the note or something."

"It was just stuck in his locker. He found it after third period when he went to get his lab notebook," Buster said.

Fern groaned, "Go to Brain. He knows how to hack into the security system," she said. Buster and Sue Ellen looked around trying to find Brain. Fern groaned loudly, "Computer lab, second floor. You'll need a pass, but...here, you can borrow this. Give it back to me after school when I come get that magazine."

Buster accepted the pass and went to the nearest exit. He and Sue Ellen used the pass and were allowed through. Sure enough, Brain was on the second floor typing complicated-looking code into an odd program.

"Busy," Brain called before they could speak.

"We need security camera footage of Arthur's locker. Someone sent him a note and Fern couldn't help us, and Sue Ellen doesn't know either," Buster explained. Brain shook his head firmly.

"My dad got passes to a technology convention in Metropolis. You can go in my place if you help us," Sue Ellen offered.

"Done," Brain said, moving to another computer. A moment later, he was hacking into the school's mainframe. Then, the video feed played. He rewound it...and they saw Maria slipping the note into his locker.

"That's not right!" Sue Ellen exclaimed. The boys gave her perplexed looks. "Fine, fine, I know who did it. But she's nervous. I can't tell you who it is, but it's not Maria."

"I recommend pretending it is if the right person will see. Jealousy is a great motivator," Brain nodded, shooing them away as he got back to work.

Sue Ellen and Buster decided to take his advice. They went to Maria's table, where Francine and Muffy were laughing at a joke. Buster went up behind Maria and patted her shoulder.

"What was that for?" Maria asked.

"Don't play that. I know what you did," Buster winked. Maria shook her head. "You like Arthur! It's so obvious. We saw you put the note in Arthur's locker, and, oh look, your handwriting is similar."

"I don't like Arthur. Why would I like him? I've had to see him every day since before the third grade," Maria grimmaced.

"Seriously, Buster, what kind of game are you trying to play?" Muffy spat.

"I'm just trying to get the truth for my best friend. No one signed the note, and if Maria isn't owning up to it, what do I tell him?"

"It was me!" Francine groaned, grimmacing before rushing away from the table.

"What?! Francine likes Arthur? When did that happen?!" Muffy cried. She noticed Sue Ellen sitting there without a reaction. "You knew!" Muffy hissed.

"Yes, and now I'm going to check on her. She's having a hard time with this," Sue Ellen whispered, heading to the girls' restroom. Francine was sitting outside the last stall. She was crying.

"Why did you do that? I didn't want everyone to know," Francine muttered.

"But everyone would find out eventually," Sue Ellen whispered. "You want to be with him, right?" she asked. Francine nodded. "Then everyone would have to find out some time. Why don't you go talk to him?"

"I can't do that. Lunch is almost over anyway," she murmured, looking up as the bell chimed. "See, it's over. I'm going to call my mom and go home," she sighed, rushing out of the bathroom.

Sue Ellen was torn up about the situation. She thought it was fun that her friend had passed a note to her crush, but now it was becoming a nightmare. Sue Ellen returned to class, which just happened to be seats away from Arthur. Sue Ellen switched seats with George to sit next to him. Then she passed a note.

'What do you think of the note?' Sue Ellen asked.

'I can't believe it's Francine. Where did she go? I wanted to talk to her,' Arthur replied.

'She's scared. She was getting her mom to pick her up. Why don't we go over to her house after school? Maybe she'll talk to you there where it's more private,' Sue Ellen replied. Arthur nodded and the two got back to their notes.

After school, Sue Ellen and Arthur knocked on Francine's apartment door. She answered and immediately rushed to her room. She left the door open, so Arthur waited in the living room while Sue Ellen sought out Francine.

"Francine, he wanted to talk to you," Sue Ellen called through her bedroom door.

"Go away!" Francine cried.

"Who, me or him?" Sue Ellen asked.

"Ugh, you! I want to talk to him alone," Francine replied.

"Fine. See you tomorrow at school," Sue Ellen said. When she returned to the living room, she told Arthur what Francine wanted before leaving.

A few minutes later, Francine appeared out of her room. She sat across from Arthur and stared at the floor.

"Is that really how you feel about me?" Arthur asked. Francine nodded. "Then why are you so upset? I feel the same way about you."

"It's hard to admit. Why aren't you sick if you feel the same way?" Francine asked. Arthur shrugged, "I am a little. When Sue Ellen suggested we come here, I thought she was crazy."

"She's just trying to help," Francine sighed. "So, where do we go from here?"

"There's a carnival this weekend. Wanna go together?" Arthur asked. Francine smiled and nodded.

The next day at school, Francine and Arthur walked through the school holding hands, and everyone was happy for them, even Muffy.

~End

A/N: So here's a cutsie one-shot I wrote forever ago to make up for how The Stalker ended.

A note to my loyal readers: I'm finally back from summer hiatus, but I don't know how much I'm going to post. I plan to continue updating ongoing projects, but I don't know when I'll add any of my new pieces. I'm thinking of posting most/all of them on deviantArt because many are associated with my collaboration serieses and it'll be easier to organize there, but we'll see. Expect a list with summaries on my deviantArt profile, SS-Chrys, soon.


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